Similarities
by rocketrider231
Summary: When fate leads two troubled teenagers named Carrie White and Andrew Detmer together, the two of them take their similarities to form something wonderful. Essentially a hybrid of the 2012 movie Chronicle and the 2013 Carrie remake (with some added plot-lines). Rated T for violence.
1. A Productive Morning

_Today I was talking with a friend and came up with an idea for a Carrie/Chronicle cross-over since the two characters of Andrew and Carrie are very similar in many ways. I loved the idea so much that I began to write it, and I have so many ideas._

_The story will take place in a hybrid universe of the 2012 film Chronicle and the 2013 film Carrie. Essentially, the story will be a hybrid of the two movies with a few added plot lines. If you like the idea or don't like it, please comment and let me know why. Enjoy! :)_

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><p>Andrew Detmer opened his eyes, awaking to the sound of his alarm clock radio.<p>

"Good morning!" the voice on the radio said, "Thank you for spending your morning with us!"

"Like I have any choice…" Andrew said to himself.

"It is currently 6:30 AM," the voice continued, "and the weather is currently sunny with a temperature of 68 degrees outside, and I don't know about you, but here at the studio we are experiencing a BEAUTIFUL sunrise." Andrew got up out of bed and opened the blinds to his window to see this "BEAUTIFUL" sunrise that the man on the radio was talking about.

"Meh, it's okay, I guess…" Andrew wasn't much for scenery, so, of course, he wouldn't be too interested.

"Alright, enough of this," Andrew said as he turned off the radio, "time to get ready." He opened up his dresser and grabbing the first pair of clothes that he saw. After getting changed, he went through his normal morning routine of washing his face and brushing his teeth and hair. He picked up the razor that his cousin, Matt, got for him for his 16th birthday. He looked at his face, and saw that his peach fuzz wasn't quite long enough to shave yet.

"Soon." He said to his razor as he put it down next to his sink. He smiled at his utter ridiculousness of talking to his razor.

However, his short-lived smile soon disappeared completely when Andrew heard his dad pounding on the door.

"Andrew, get outta there, I gotta piss." Andrew sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Okay, dad. Gimme a sec." He did a few final touch ups.

"Why do you even bother?" Andrew heard his dad say.

"…what?" Andrew asked, confused at the question his dad had asked.

"Why do you try to look good? Is it to try to make some new friends? Or to impress a certain special someone?"

_Ignore him. _Andrew thought.

"Andrew, I'm your father, I asked you a question. Now give your father the respect that you need to show him, and answer the question, dammit."

"I do it to look presentable. Though you wouldn't know anything about looking presentable, would you?" Andrew knew how snarky and rude this comment was, but he had to laugh a bit. He suddenly stopped hearing noise from outside the door. Did he scare off his dad? Andrew smiled and thought of this as a moment of victory. With a feeling of confidence, he walked to the bathroom door. Andrew opened it, to see his dad standing right there.

"...dammit." was the first thought that came to Andrew's head, and the last one that came to his head before his father grabbed him and pushed him against the wall and down to the ground.

"DON'T YOU EVER DISRESPECT ME LIKE THAT AGAIN! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" Andrew looks up at his dad. Saying his dad looked furious would be a gross understatement. "I AM YOUR FATHER!" His dad continued to scream into his face, "I ASKED YOU A QUESTION, AND THE LEAST YOU COULD DO IS GIVE AN HONEST ANSWER! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" Andrew groaned a bit.

"Ow….dad I think you hurt my back-" Andrew's dad slammed him against the wall again.

"DO. YOU. UNDER. STAND." His dad asked, slamming him into the wall with every syllable.

"Okay, I got it!" Andrew said. Andrew's dad nodded and smiled as if he was enjoying his dominance over Andrew.

"Good." Andrew's father said, still smiling. "Now go to school, you're gonna be late." Andrew's dad let go of him and walked into the kitchen and then to the refrigerator to get himself a beer.

"You know, it's not a good idea to drink first thing in the morning…" Andrew said, not wanting to have to come home to his drunken dad. After saying this, his dad turned to look at him.

"Excuse me, Dr. Andrew, I don't think I asked you." His dad said.

_I don't need to waste my time here._ Andrew thought as he walked to the door, and walked out of the house.

"Well that was a productive morning." Andrew said, wincing as he felt his back and began to walk to school.

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><p>"Carrie, time to wake up." Carrie White heard her mother say. Carrie half-opened her eyes.<p>

"Can I sleep for just a bit longer?" Carrie asked.

"You and I both know that you can't." Her mother responded.

"Okay." Carrie said, as she continued to lie down. Her mother didn't budge.

"Carrie White, get out of bed."

"Alright, momma. I got it."

"I mean it."

"Yes, yes, I know you do, now please, leave me alone."

"Little girl, you get out of bed right now." Carrie's mother said as she grabbed her arm and pulled her out of her bed, and she fell onto the floor on her shoulder.

"Ouch, momma that hurt!" Carrie said with a sad look in her eyes.

"You're awake now, aren't you?" Her mother said with a serious face.

"Yeah, I'm awake. Gosh…" Carrie stood up. Her shoulder hurt.

"Carrie, you know what God says about respecting authority, don't you?" Carrie's mother said.

"Yeah, I know, momma. You don't need to start." Carrie said as she walked into the bathroom and shut the door. She pulled up the sleeve of her nightgown to reveal a red spot that she was sure was going to turn into a nasty bruise. But she didn't let that get her stop her from doing her morning routine. She brushed her hair, brushed her teeth, and looked at herself in the mirror.

"Yeah, I'm pretty." She said.

"How are we doing in there, Carrie?" her mother asked from outside the door.

"I'm okay!" Carrie said with a "get off my back" tone.

"Carrie, do you need to go into your closet?" The words that Carrie's mother said sunk in and Carrie suddenly took a very respectful tone.

"No, no, that's okay, momma."

"Don't use that tone with me or with anyone else ever again. Got it?"

"Okay, I got it, momma. I love you."

"Alright, good." Her mother said, without even so much as a "I love you too." Carrie eagerly grabbed together her stuff and started to walk out the door to school. Sure, everyone ridiculed her and bullied her and she had no friends, but it was a lot better than being pushed around by her mom.

"Bye, momma." Carrie said as she was about to walk out the door.

"Hold on, one more thing." Her mother said, stopping her. "Remember to not sin and pray all throughout the day. Do you understand?" Carrie rolled her eyes.

"Momma-" Carrie began to say before she was cut off.

"I said do you understand?" her mother said a bit more harshly. Carrie sighed.

"Yes, I understand." She said in a defeated tone.

"Good. Now go and have a good day." Her mother said.

"I'll try." Carrie said as she walked out the door.

"Now wasn't that productive." Carrie said sarcastically as she started her way to school, rubbing her shoulder, which still hurt.

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><p><em>Like I said before, if you would like to comment and let me know what you thought of it, please do! :)<em>


	2. Someone

_I was very happy to find out that I got some pretty darn good feedback on my first chapter, so thank you to those of you who read it and reviewed it._

_Here is the second chapter. If you like it and would like to favorite/follow/review, please do! :)_

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><p>Carrie started to make her way to school. This might have possibly been her favorite part of the day, just step after step of walking for forty-five minutes without having to worry about her mother or any of the other girls who picked on her at school. She could free her mind and pretend that she was normal like everyone else.<p>

Soon, the school came into sight, and Carrie's free time had come to a stop. She sighed as she walked into the schoolyard, but was soon interrupted by a guy yanking her backpack off of her already soar shoulder.

"Catch!" The guy yelled out to his friend. The two of them threw it back and forth, like they were playing a game of catch with her backpack.

"Can you please give it back?" Carrie said, just loudly enough so they could hear her.

"Come and get it!" One of them shouted out. Carrie sighed, and waited for it to run its course.

"Come on, guys! Seriously?!" Someone shouted from behind her. It was Chris Hargensen. Chris Hargensen was a slim, in-shape girl, who had more of "hot" appearance than a "cute" or "beautiful" one. She had been infamous for her cruel jokes and/or pranks that she pulled on fellow schoolmates who she didn't like. She was the stereotypical popular, rich girl, since she was cheerleading captain and her boyfriend, Billy Nolan, was rather popular around school too. Her father was a moneymaking lawyer who did his best to make her happy.

Chris was the ringleader of people who ridiculed Carrie, and the main person who tormented her, so standing up for Carrie was a HUGE surprise for everyone. Normally, Chris would be expected to jump in the middle of their game and start throwing around the backpack with them.

"Are you guys in middle school, or something?!" Chris said, grabbing Carrie's backpack from one of the boys. By this point, everyone was looking at her. No one expected anything like this from her, of all people. Chris walked up to Carrie with her backpack.

"I'm so sorry about that." She said, holding out the backpack. Carrie looked up at her with shock. Maybe she was going to have a legitimate change of heart. The thought of that made Carrie smile a bit. She looked Chris in the eye, still smiling, and reached out to take her backpack.

However, right as she was about to take the backpack and say "Thank you, Chris. It means a lot." Chris pulled the backpack back and threw it in a puddle in the middle of the road, where a school bus ended up running it over.

"You see, boys?! THAT'S how it's done in high school!" Chris said out loud as everyone's expression of shock turned to laughter as they all joined in with Chris and started laughing at Carrie.

Carrie let out a sad sigh and walked up to her backpack, trying to hold back tears. She looked the backpack at her feet, now wet and dirty from the mud and squished down from being run over. She picked it up and opened it, walking back to the schoolyard. At first look, no major damaged was done to her books. Carrie let out a small sigh of relief, until she pulled out a crushed calculator and pencil pieces.

"Dude you got her calculator!" she heard someone scream out, followed by Chris's howling laughter.

With her shoulder still sore from what happened that morning and her crushed calculator in her hand, Carrie couldn't hold back anymore and let out two big tears. If only there was someone who wasn't like them, someone who wouldn't make fun of her and actually treat her like a human being, someone who would be her friend.

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><p>Andrew walked out of chemistry class, which was the last class of the morning before lunch. He walked through the hall, thinking about what his plans were for the rest of the day. Really the only thing he could think of doing was stay in his room with his door locked and play video games. That sounded pretty good to him. Andrew soon approached his locker, except there was a major problem: Wayne Jacobs was standing in front of it.<p>

Wayne Jacobs had been pushing Andrew around and tormenting him since freshman year. He had a mother who was a caterer and a father who was ex-Navy Seals, so of course Wayne had been raised to be a hardass, like his father. Wayne was bigger than Andrew, both in height and strength, so he was able to shove Andrew around without Andrew being able to fight back. Also, since his father was ex-Navy Seal, everyone paid Wayne respect because of his father.

Wayne was casually standing in front of Andrew's locker with his football jersey on, while he was talking with one of his friends. Andrew approached Wayne.

"Wayne?" Andrew said, making Wayne turn his head. "Locker…" he added, pointing at the locker that was behind Wayne's back.

"Oh, Andrew, I'm super sorry about that." Wayne said in an apologetic voice. "Lemme help you out." Wayne then turned to stand in front of Andrew, with his back leaning against his locker. Wayne looked Andrew in the face with a "come at me look" while his friend chuckled.

"Come on, Wayne…" Andrew said with a sigh

"Come on, what? I've been standing here, and now you've come over here to bother me about your locker. What's your problem?" Wayne then grabbed Andrew and put him in a headlock. "What's your problem, man? What's your problem?"

"Yeah, you got a problem?" Wayne's friend said.

"I think he's got a problem!" Wayne said as he started to smack Andrew in the face while he and his friend both laughed.

"Okay, okay, okay," Andrew repeated, "I got it."

"Oh, you got it?" Wayne tightened the chokehold and gave Andrew a hard slap, "You got it?"

"I got it!" Andrew said raising his voice a bit.

"Good." Wayne let go of Andrew and pushed him away. "Now don't bother me about something stupid like that again, understood?"

"Yeah, whatever man." Andrew said as he walked away. "What a jackass." He said to himself.

Andrew looked up at the clock and scowled when he saw that he burned ten minutes from the ordeal with Wayne and his moronic friend.

As he walked to get his lunch, he wondered, what's it like to be able to stand up for yourself? What's it like to have someone to stand up for? What's it like to just have someone?

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><p><em>I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you'd like to leave a review telling me what you think, please do! :)<em>


	3. Cafeteria

_Alright, I got another chapter, but first, let me apologize for the short length of this chapter. I've been working on it for a few days now, and I realized that I can't really make it any longer without it seeming forced._

_Despite the shorter length, enjoy the chapter and if you would like to follow/favorite/review this story, please do! :)_

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><p>Carrie walked into the school cafeteria. It was time for her second favorite part of the day, when she could sit down by herself with her lunch and think. She grabbed a tray and waited for her turn on the line.<p>

"Hey," someone said to her, prompting her to look up at them, "what's 125 time 25?" Carrie seemed confused at first until she realized what he was referring to.

"OH WAIT!" He said while he obnoxiously laughed as he walked away.

"Jerk…" Carrie said as she looked back down at her tray, chicken tenders and vegetarian chili for lunch. Not too bad, considering that yesterday they were serving some sort of dough that they called pizza. She grabbed an orange juice, and walked up to the register. Fortunately, she had just enough money to pay for it.

"Enjoy your lunch!" the lady behind the register said with a plastic smile.

"Thanks." She quietly said back.

Carrie walked to her normal table in the corner and put down her tray of lunch and sat down. Among sitting down, she opened up her backpack and grabbed a book and pulled it out. She was about to open up the book, when she noticed that the broken calculator had been pulled out with the book along with some pieces of pencil. She picked up the calculator, examining the destroyed hardware and smashed plastic. Then she saw the pencil pieces scattered around on the table in front of her.

"Mom's not gonna be happy." She quietly said with a sad face. She remembered her mother specifically told her at the beginning of the school year:

"These supplies I got you are what you're getting for the whole year. If you lose or break anything then that's it."

Carrie sat and wondered for a moment about how much time in her closet her crushed calculator and pencils were going to get her. She shuttered at the thought of having to go in there when she got home.

"It is what it is." She said, taking a deep breath and sucking it up. She opened up her book to read a little bit before her next class started.

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><p>After a few minutes of walking, Andrew finally made it to the cafeteria.<p>

He started the normal every day process of grabbing a tray and getting his lunch. Today's special was dry chicken tenders with a side of vegetarian chili.

"Delicious." Andrew said as he looked down at what was put on his plate, grabbing a chocolate milk along with it. He then pulled out the cash for his for all of his lunch.

"Enjoy your lunch!" Said the lady behind the register with a smile that looked so forced.

"Yeah, okay, whatever you say…" Andrew said back, only half trying to reply to her and talk loud enough for her to hear him.

The first thing he noticed after grabbing his lunch was that there were no empty tables he could sit at. Normally, he sat at a table by himself, but since he had burned a chunk of his break with Wayne, everyone had already taken all the tables. He of course couldn't sit on the floor since it not only was completely childish and unprofessional, but Andrew remembered someone in middle school doing that who ended up getting their lunch "accidentally" stepped in by a popular kid.

Andrew looked around for the table with the least amount of people. Every table seemed to be occupied. Biting the bullet, he was about to sit down at a table with three nerdy looking guys with textbooks out and intense notes layed out over the table, when he noticed there was an empty table in the corner!

"YES!" Andrew said to himself as he started walking towards the table, away from the nerds. However, his expression of happiness soon came to a stop when saw that there was someone sitting at the table. He let out a disappointed sigh and made his way to the table.

"Oh well, only one person is better there than any of the other tables…" Andrew quietly said to himself as he made his way over. He then noticed that it was Carrie White who was sitting at the table. He knew from some of the gossip and vandalism around school that she wasn't a very popular individual, nor was she a well-liked one.

"…still, it's better there than at the other tables…I think…" Andrew slowly continued to make his way over to Carrie's table.

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><p>Carrie looked up and saw Andrew coming over to her table. <em>Oh great, what does this guy want?<em> She thought to herself.

_This isn't gonna be uncomfortable or awkward at all._ Andrew thought to himself, as he stopped in front of her at the other side of her table, and stood there with his tray of food for a few seconds.

"Hey." Andrew finally said,

"Hello." Carrie replied.


	4. A Calculator

_I got another chapter here for all of you, but first, a quick announcement: things in my personal life are kind of spiraling, so I've been struggling to find some free time to write. So I apologize for any delays from now on. Don't worry, I'll do my very best to keep updating/writing this story. I love this story just as much as you guys do :)_

_So without any further ado, here's the newest chapter. If you would like to, please follow/favorite/review. Thank you and enjoy!_

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><p>Andrew stood there awkwardly for a moment before he finally brought himself to speak any words.<p>

"Would you mind if I…uh….if I sit here?" Andrew said.

"If you have to, then no." Carrie replied.

"Alright." Andrew said as he sat down across from her at the table. Andrew wasn't much for small talk and neither was Carrie, so they awkwardly sat in silence for a bit. Andrew looked across and saw that she had books out. He assumed she was one of those nerds or OCD students who studied whenever they possibly could and couldn't stand to get a B.

Andrew took one of his chicken tenders and bit into it. The first thing he noticed was that they were so very dry. Dry in the sense that it was barely edible.

"Hey, are your chicken tenders as dry as mine?" Andrew asked, breaking the silence between the two of them. Carrie looked at him.

"I don't know." She was honest while saying only as much as she needed to.

"Yeah, these were definitely left under the light for too long." He said, looking at her plate with a displeased look.

"Okay."

"Well, at least it's not like the pizza we had yesterday." After Andrew said this, Carrie look up at him.

"That was horrid." She said with a completely serious face.

"I know, right? That wasn't even pizza. It was dough."

Carrie picked up a book and moved it to the other side of the table, bringing her broken calculator into Andrew's view.

"Uh, what happened there…?" Andrew asked, looking at her calculator.

"Oh, uh, nothing." She said, quickly putting it back in her backpack.

"It broke?"

"Yeah, I dropped it." Carrie knew that lying was wrong, but she didn't want to lay her problems on some guy who she didn't even know.

"Really?" Andrew asked, "Because that looked like it had a run-in with a steamroller." He didn't want to force her to tell him what really happened, but at the same time, he didn't buy her story. His comment made her sigh and she looked at him.

"Chris Hargensen is what happened." She said, finally accepting defeat. "She took my backpack as a joke and threw it into the middle of the road, and then a car ran it over."

"Oh…sorry about that…" Andrew didn't exactly know what to say.

"My mom will just have to get me another one." Saying this made Carrie heavily sigh. "She won't be happy about it, but she'll have to get me another one." Andrew felt for her. His dad didn't like having to get him more stuff than he needed.

Suddenly, an idea came into Andrew's head. It was a really odd and radical one, but his mother wouldn't be proud of him if he did not at least try.

"Hey, you want mine?" Andrew really felt how ridiculous his offer really was as the words left his mouth. Nonetheless, it did make Carrie look up at him again.

"What?" She asked, not sure if she understood what he was asking.

"Do you want my calculator?" He said again, especially feeling the silliness of the question the second time around.

"Thank you, but I'm not good at borrowing other peoples things." She honestly replied.

"I mean…to keep." Andrew clarified. Carrie was shocked, no one had ever offered anything like this to her before, especially someone who she had just met. In fact, she was so surprised by his offer that she didn't know what to say. However, she soon snapped back to reality.

"This is a joke, isn't it?" She said.

"Uh, no, I mean it." He said, reassuring her.

"Come on, did you really come all the way over here just to pull a joke on me? That's-"

"Just take it." Andrew said, holding out his calculator for her to take. Carrie looked Andrew in the eye, and he motioned to it with his head. "Go on, take it." Without breaking eye contact, she slowly reached out and grabbed the calculator out of Andrew's hand. She looked at it, half-expecting for it to be broken, but much to her pleasure, it was fully intact.

"Wow…uh…" Carrie didn't know what to say. She was still kind of skeptical about whether or not he really meant it.

"Yeah, keep it." He said as he picked up his spoon to pick at his vegetarian chili.

"Thank you." Carrie said, finally accepting it and believing him.

"No problem." Andrew said with a quick smile. "Gosh, what is this stuff?" He said, picking at his chili. I don't think this is even chili, I think it's paste and beans." After breaking the ice a little bit, he had become a little more comfortable with speaking to her.

"No, really, thank you." Carrie said, still on the topic of the calculator. "No one-NO ONE has ever done anything like this before."

"Oh, well, I'm glad I could help." Andrew said again.

"You have no idea how much energy this saves me." She imagined being locked in her closet or being yelled at by her mom over a calculator. "No idea…"

"Ah, yeah. My dad's not too happy about dealing with my school stuff either."

"My mom's REALLY not happy about dealing with my school stuff." Carrie put down her "new" calculator and picked up her spoon to eat her chili.

"Ugh, just look at this." She tilted up the cup so that Andrew could see. "I hate the food that this school makes." Andrew laughed a bit at her comment.

"Yeah, who doesn't?" He said back.

"But still, I pay money for it."

"Yeah…but still, people in nursing homes aren't fed this well." Carrie looked up at him and pointed her fork at him

"Too true." She said.

The two of them sat down and ate and made comments about the food for a bit longer. Then after a bit, the bell rang.

"Oh, I need to get to class." Carrie said, collecting her stuff. "Hey, again, thanks so very much for the calculator. It really means a lot, you have no idea."

"It's no problem." Andrew said, grabbing his backpack. "Hey," he said, making Carrie look up at him. "Are we gonna exchange names or is this gonna be like a romance movie where the two characters meet and then never learn each others names?" Carrie looked confused.

"I'm only kidding." He said sticking out his hand. "Andrew." She looked at his hand, thinking about what the gesture meant. That someone was actually wiling to be her friend. She shook his hand.

"Carrie." She said with a smile.


	5. Rain, Rain

_Before we get into anything, I want to say: I recently watched Carrie and Chronicle again and I have to agree with the reviews. In the last chapter, Carrie and Andrew were HORRIBLY out of character. They were way more social and less disturbed than their characters were in the movies (especially Carrie), and they were more like socially awkward teenagers with traits of Carrie and Andrew rather than actually being Carrie and Andrew (in the future I'm probably gonna cringe whenever I think of that chapter)._

_Here's what's going to happen: I am going to own up to the fact that I botched the last chapter, and the events of the last chapter did happen. However, I'm going to try as hard as I can to do a better job with this chapter and all other ones in the future. If you would like to, please leave a review of how well you think I am doing with keeping them in character in this chapter and in the future. Also, thank you everyone for your helpful criticism. It really does mean a lot._

_Alright, so here's the next chapter. I know in the last chapter I said that chapters would come out less frequently due to my personal life spiraling out of control, but thanks to the wonders of insomnia, I am now able to write more. Lemme know if its still not quite right or if I actually did better this time. Thank you so much for reading, and enjoy :)_

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><p>The bell rung for one last time, symbolizing that school was over for the day. Carrie walked outside, holding her backpack firmly in place so that no one could take it this time.<p>

"Hey freak!" Someone said as they threw a basketball at Carrie, hitting her in her sore shoulder, followed by his laughter. She ignored him and kept on walking. The skies looked unfriendly, since they were a dark grey color. Carrie knew this meant it was probably going to start raining soon.

_Well, time to begin the long walk home._ Carrie thought to herself with a sigh.

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><p>Andrew grabbed a few things out of his locker, which wasn't being blocked by Wayne this time, and started his way out the door. After walking outside, he saw that the sky was dark and cloudy, which was quite a change of tone from the "BEAUTIFUL SUNRISE" that they had that morning. It looked like there was going to be a bad storm. Andrew pulled up his hood and continued on his way.<p>

"Hey freak!" he heard someone say, making him look up to see Carrie getting hit in the shoulder with a basketball.

"Douche." Andrew said, just loud enough so that he could hear himself but quiet enough so that no one else could hear him.

Andrew saw his cousin Matt in his car, in the parking lot, waiting to drive him home from school. He was about to walk over to Matt's car, but he felt he should at least say a goodbye to Carrie since they were now acquaintances.

"Hey…" Andrew said, walking up to Carrie. She looked up at him. "See you tomorrow…" he said with an awkward wave. She replied back with an awkward wave of her own. He nodded, ending their little exchange.

"Okay then…" Andrew said to himself as he walked away and over to Matt's car.

Matt Garetty was Andrew's cousin. Matt was skinny, and he had a bit of muscle, but it wasn't anything to brag about. While he was somewhat attractive, he had a bit of a "bad boy wannabe" look to him, and any of his ex-girlfriends could testify to that. He was a high school senor, a year ahead of Andrew, but hadn't really planned out his post-high school life or career. Matt gave Andrews rides to school and back since Andrew couldn't afford his own car, and since Matt saw Andrew almost every day of the week, Andrew felt more comfortable around Matt and was exceptionally more social to Matt than to everyone else.

"Hey!" Matt said, seeing Andrew walking up to the car. He unlocked the doors, and Andrew got inside. "What's up?"

"Not much." Andrew said. "The skies don't look too friendly."

"No they don't." Matt replied. "Hey, who was that girl you were talking to up front?"

"What?" Andrew asked.

"That blonde with the frizzy hair who's walking out front, who is she?"

"No one you know." Andrew said, saying only as much as he had to.

"C'mon, just tell me, who is she?"

"Can we just go?"

"Come on, Andrew, just tell me her name." Andrew knew Matt wasn't going to stop until he told him.

"Her name is Carrie." Andrew said with a sigh, accepting defeat.

"Carrie!" Matt said out loud. "I like that name!"

"Yeah, shut up." Andrew said. Matt laughed and started to pull out of the parking space.

However, right as he was pulling out, rain started to come down, and hard. Matt stopped for a moment and saw the huge drops of rain splatter all over the windshield with loud noise.

"Wow…" Matt said. "It's raining really bad,"

"You don't say?" Andrew said back to him.

"Shut up." Matt said as he continued to pull out of his parking space and out of the parking lot. As he was about to drive onto the road and start their way home, Matt saw Carrie walking with nothing but her hair to protect her from the rain.

"I see an opportunity here." Matt told Andrew.

"What?" Andrew asked right before noticing Carrie walking in the rain. "Oh you're not actually thinking of-"

"Come on, Andrew, let's do it!"

"No, Matt, she's fine." Andrew didn't feel like socializing with her, and he figured he would do a favor for her, since he was sure that she didn't want to either.

"Andrew, it is raining cats and dogs. I'm pretty sure thunder and lighting aren't too far behind us. Do you really want her to WALK through all that without even so much as something to cover herself with?" Andrew opened his mouth to respond, but he was cut off by a blinding flash of lighting, followed by the extremely loud booming sound of thunder.

"Okay, that's it, Andrew." Matt said, as he stopped the car.

"Matt, what are you doing?!" Andrew asked, mortified at the thought of Matt actually asking Carrie to take a ride with them.

"Andrew, I'm sorry, but this isn't about opportunities anymore. This is about being safe." Matt told Andrew in a stern voice as he opened the door. "Hey!" Matt called out to Carrie as he stepped out of the car. Andrew didn't even bother asking Matt to stop at this point. "Hey, uh, Carrie!"

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><p>Carrie started to walk her way home from school, when rain started to come pouring down. She sighed and kept on walking. Walks from home to school and vice versa could be the best thing ever, but they could also be the worst thing ever, depending on the weather. All she wanted at this point was to go home and go to bed. She thought about the day, classes, people ridiculing her, homework, seemed like a pretty normal day.<p>

Carrie went about walking, with the rain soaking her. She looked down at her feet, which would probably be covered in blisters by the time she got home, and then at her fingers, which would probably be all wrinkled and shriveled up by the time she got home. The thought of having blistered feet and shriveled up fingers made Carrie groan.

Suddenly, a bright flash came from the sky that made Carrie stop dead in her tracks. Before she could even say "Woah", a deafening crack of thunder came from the sky, making her scream a bit. To calm down, Carrie took a moment to close her eyes and pray for protection.

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. Right as she was about to take a step forward, she heard someone scream out "Hey!" That was kind of odd. Who was this voice calling to in this weather? "Hey, uh, Carrie!" the voice said, making Carrie immediately turn around to see a boy, maybe a bit older than her, calling to her, standing outside of his car in the middle of the road.

* * *

><p>"Okay, I think I got her attention." Matt told Andrew.<p>

"Great." Andrew said.

"Hey, this is the right thing to do. It's not safe to be walking out here in this weather."

"Whatever you say, Mr. Safety." Matt ignored Andrew's little comment and saw Carrie looking at him.

"Hey, uh, my name's Matt, and I think you know my cousin Andrew?" Matt called out to her. Carrie continued to stare at him blankly. "…yeah, well, you've probably noticed it's raining really hard, so…do you want a ride?" Matt was able to string together a decent amount of words.

"Oh…uh….no. That's okay." Carrie said as she started to walk again.

"Carrie," Matt continued, "I can't let you walk home in this storm. Let me give you a ride."

"No. I-I don't want to." Carrie repeated.

"Carrie?" Andrew called out, making Carrie stop once again, "you should listen to Matt." While Andrew didn't want Carrie to have to socialize with Matt or him, he couldn't deny it wasn't safe outside.

"See?" Matt said, "You need to come with us-or actually, Carrie, I am commanding you to come with us."

"My-My momma, she, uh, wouldn't like that." Carrie said, using her last defense.

"Do you really do everything your mom tells you to do?" Matt said with an eyebrow raise. Carrie thought about this for a moment. Her mother had pushed her around her whole life and she had done everything her mother had told her to do in the past. What's just one rebellion to her mother out of the billions of things her mother had pushed her to do in the past? Carrie took a deep breath.

"Okay." She said.

"Yes!" Matt said, running out to the backseat door to open it for her, with the pouring rain still pounding down. Carrie slowly walked over to the car with a far less enthusiastic look than the one that Matt had.

"Come on, this'll be fun!"

_Yeah, fun…_ Andrew and Carrie both thought to themselves at the same time.


	6. Along For The Ride

_Alright, I've got a new chapter up, but first lemme just say: I apologize that it's a bit shorter than usual. I have been trying for the past three days to make it a longer chapter, but I can't make it any longer without making things feel forced, or make more events happen without making things feel rushed. So please excuse the shorter than usual length._

_Also, thank you for taking the time to review. It looks like I did a better job of keeping them in character in the last chapter than the fourth one. Hopefully I can keep this up in the future (looking back on it, Chapter Four is probably going to be the Jar Jar Binks of my story)._

_Anyways, despite the short length, I hope you enjoy this chapter and if you would like to follow/favorite/review, please do! Thank you for reading, and enjoy! :)_

* * *

><p>Matt ran out over to the other side of the car and opened the backseat door and motioned for Carrie to get inside.<p>

"Sorry…" she said as she sat down in the seat.

"For what?" he asked.

"Well…I'm wet." She said, motioning to her wet clothes.

"Oh, don't worry about it. I've had waaaaaay worse stuff back here." Matt said with a chuckle, which made Carrie looked at him. "…but I cleaned it all out, of course." He quickly added . Matt shut the door and ran over to the drivers door.

"Alright!" Matt said, getting into his seat, "First, let me just start by saying that Andrew and I are real excited that you could join us along for the ride back from school." Andrew rolled his eyes. "Now, where do you live Carrie?" Matt said. She responded by just looking at him, not knowing what to say. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna come to your house in the middle of the night and kill your family." He said, which startled her.

"Seriously?" Andrew said to Matt.

"What? I can't make a joke?" Andrew looked at Matt. Matt could REALLY irritate him sometimes. "Man, why can't you just-"

"Oakwood Lane." Carrie said, interrupting the little bicker between Matt and Andrew. "I-I live on Oakwood Lane."

"Oakwood Lane! Here we come!" Matt said out loud as he put the car in gear and started driving.

The three of them sat in the car for a few minutes, listening to the sound of rain pounding on the car windshield without saying a word. Matt didn't know what to say, Andrew didn't want to say anything, and Carrie barely knew either of them, so for all she knew, if she said the wrong thing, they would make her get out of the car.

"Well," Matt finally said as he broke the awkward silence between the three of them, "if you guys aren't gonna talk, I'm gonna have to turn on the radio." _Thank God…_ Andrew thought to himself as the radio turned on, breaking the uncomfortable silence. Andrew recognized the song as Price Tag by Jessie J.

"Oh yeah!" Matt said, "This! This is my jam!"

"Oh, please, no." Andrew said, but it was too late.

"WHY IS EVERYBODY SOOOO OBSESSED? MONEY CAN'T BUY US HAPPINESSS!" Matt sang in a high key.

"Really?" Andrew asked, which had no effect on Matt whatsoever. For a moment, he wished that he hadn't turned on the radio and it was back to the awkward silence between the three of them.

"CAN WE ALL SLOW DOWN AND…uh…" Matt trailed off, as he didn't quite know the lyrics perfectly.

Carrie winced at the sound of his singing. Not only did the high pitch hurt her ears, but she wasn't used to the peppy, upbeat type of music. The only music that she was used to hearing was either the sound of her mother's voice or classical music.

"IT'S NOT ABOUT THE MONEY MONEY MONEY-best part, right here! AIN'T ABOUT THE UHHH CHA-CHING, CHA-CHING!" Matt stopped when he saw Carrie's suffering expression on her face.

"Oh come on!" He said, "Am I THAT bad?"

"Yes." Andrew quickly replied.

"You zip it." Matt said. "Okay, you said it was Oakwood Lane, right?" Matt said, reading signs. Carrie nodded. "Alright, which house is yours?"

"Let me out here." She quickly replied. Carrie knew that if her mother saw her getting out of someones car or getting home early from school, it would cost her time in the closet.

"What?" Matt asked.

"My…my momma wouldn't like it if, uh, if she saw me with you..." She knew it sounded odd, but there was really no other way of saying it. To her relief, Matt nodded.

"Fair enough." He said as he pulled over. "Good day!"

"Thanks." She said, grabbing her bag and opening the car door.

"See you, Carrie." Andrew said.

"Bye, Andrew." Carrie replied.


	7. A Good Day

_Alright, I've got another chapter for all of you. I was going to tack this at the end of the last chapter, I even half wrote it as the sixth chapter, but reading through it, I felt that they warranted their own chapters._

_Anyways, here's the chapter. Thank you and enjoy! :)_

* * *

><p>Carrie got out of the car and shut the door. As she walked down the sidewalk, Matt looked at Andrew.<p>

"That was fun!" He said.

"Why do you do that?" Andrew asked.

"Do what?"

"You know, pull the 'oh look at me, aren't I cool' act."

"Oh no, the 'aren't I cool' act is something completely different. This is just like some of the goofy things I did in the car with my ex."

"And that's why she's your ex?"

"Eh, shut up." Matt said, as he put the car in gear and started the drive up to Andrew's house.

A few minutes later, Matt pulled up in Andrew's driveway.

"Okay, see you tomorrow, Matt." Andrew said as he grabbed his backpack and opened the door.

"Later, man." Matt said. Andrew got out of the car, slammed the door shut, and hurried up the steps to his house through the rain, while Matt drove off.

After walking inside, Andrew placed his backpack on a chair and went to the fridge. He looked around for something quick that he could just quickly eat, and saw a bag of shredded Kraft cheddar cheese.

"Good enough." Andrew said as he grabbed the bag. He put his hand in it, took a handful of the shredded cheese, and dumped it in his mouth.

Andrew heard his dad walking out of another room, which made him quickly, put the bag back into the fridge and grab an apple.

"Hey." Andrew said, taking a bite into his apple.

"You didn't touch my shredded cheese, did you?" His dad asked, making Andrew's 'welcome home' a question about shredded cheese.

"Um, no, I didn't."

"Good. I'm saving that."

"Alright, well, I'm gonna go to my room." Andrew said, as he grabbed his backpack and walked out of the kitchen.

"Hold up," his dad said, making Andrew stop.

"What is it?" Andrew asked.

"You have anything to say to me about this morning?"

"…what?" Even though Andrew already knew what his dad was talking about, he was hoping for the off-chance that maybe it was something else.

"This morning, when you spoke disrespectfully to your father, do you have anything to say to me about that?" Of course, he wanted Andrew to apologize for inconveniencing his dad. Andrew figured it would be better to just get it over with and swallow whatever pride he had left rather than to risk getting slammed against the wall again.

"I'm sorry for this morning." He said.

"What about this morning?" Andrew groaned. His dad was really stretching this out, which irritated Andrew greatly, but he figured it was better than possibly getting physically hurt.

"I'm sorry for the way I spoke to you this morning."

"Good. Now go off and do whatever you're gonna do."

"Yeah, yeah, okay." Andrew said as he walked into his room. "Father of the year award." Andrew said to himself as he walked into his room.

Andrew dropped his backpack, threw himself onto his bed, and started to daydream. Carrie soon came to his mind, and he started thinking about her and how he had made friends with her. Somehow, the thought of meeting her had outweighed all the bad that happened in the day. As he thought about her, he smiled.

"Today was pretty cool." He said to himself.

* * *

><p>"Bye." Carrie said to Matt and Andrew as she shut the door. She ran over to the sidewalk and started to walk down the block. As she walked, she saw Matt and Andrew drive away.<p>

"That wasn't too bad." She said to herself, continuing her way to her house.

Carrie walked, through the pouring rain, feeling a bit better than she normally did.

Finally, Carrie made it to her house. She could tell that her mom was home since her car was in the driveway. However, as she was about to walk inside, she realized something: she was home from school early. If she walked inside a second earlier than when she usually came home, her mother would interrogate her until she would be forced to tell her that she got a ride from two boys that she had only met that day. This, of course, would get her time in her closet.

Of course, Carrie didn't want time in the closet, so she thought of a compromise. She ran behind the garage, and sat down. If she waited a little bit and went inside on time, her mother wouldn't question anything. Her story checked out completely.

Then after about twenty minutes worth of sitting in the cold, wet rain and listening to cars go by, she went inside. Her first move was to take off her shoes, and hang up her coat.

"You're wet." Carrie's mother said, startling Carrie.

"Oh, Momma, I'm sorry. It was raining, and I had to walk through it and everything…" For a moment, she was worried that her mother wouldn't believe her and she would find out about how she got a ride home with Andrew and Matt, which would prompt her to lock Carrie in the closet, meaning that sitting behind the garage for all that time would all be for nothing.

"Go get changed into some dry clothes and then do your homework." Her mother said as Carrie took a breath of relief and started to walk up the stairs.

"Wait one minute, little girl." Her mother said.

"What is it?" Carrie replied, stopping her walk up the stairs.

"The way you spoke to me this morning was unacceptable."

"Okay Momma, I-"

"Don't interrupt me." Her mother said, raising her voice. "I am your mother and when I tell you to get up out of bed in the morning, you get up out of bed. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, momma, I understand. I'm sorry."

"I forgive you. Now go get changed and do your homework. I'll call you down when dinner is ready."

"Okay, thank you." Carrie said as she began to walk up the stairs again, a bit upset her mother made her apologize.

Putting everything that just happened behind her, Carrie walked into her room. She put her backpack down and got changed into some dry clothes.

After doing that, she finally was able to lie down on her bed for a second before getting into her homework. While she lied there, she thought about the day. It was a pretty normal day until lunchtime, when she met Andrew. Then she was able to get a ride home with him and Matt, which, despite Matt's singing, was actually fun.

"Today actually wasn't so bad." She said to herself with a slight smile.


	8. Connection

_Okay, I have a new chapter, but first off, let me say something: I apologize for the lack of chapters lately. Things in my personal life REALLY got complicated in the last two weeks, so I haven't really been feeling up to writing or have really had time to write. Fear not, I don't plan on abandoning this story any time soon and I love writing this story. Also, I love that you guys are reading it and are enjoying it._

_I apologize if this chapter feels odd or forced in any way, as I had a bit of trouble with this chapter. Despite that, I hope you enjoy the chapter and if you would like to favorite/follow/review, then please do. Enjoy! :)_

* * *

><p>Carrie paid for her lunch, and walked over to the table in the corner where she always sat. She put her tray down and sat down. After sitting down, she picked up her fork and started to pick at her food. As she did so, she looked at the room and started to daydream into space. Today was no different than any other day. Everything that was normally there was there. The same people, the same mediocre food, and the same sense of loneliness that she felt. Carrie sighed. If only something would happen that would make things just a little bit different...<p>

* * *

><p>After paying for his lunch, Andrew looked around for a table to sit at. There were the usual tables with the nerds, the jocks, the inbetweeners, and the cliques of girls. A sense of relief came over him when he saw an empty table a few places down. As he started to make his way to the empty table, he saw Carrie sitting at a her regular table in the corner of the room, the same table they sat at the day before. The next thing he noticed was that she was by herself. Andrew stopped and thought for a moment. Sitting with Carrie would definitely beat sitting by himself. He then abandoned the idea of sitting at the empty table, and started to walk her way.<p>

* * *

><p>As Carrie stared into space, she saw Andrew walking towards her table and snapped back to reality. She sat up and positioned herself so she wasn't slumping.<p>

"Hey." Andrew said to her as he walked up to her table.

"Hi." She replied.

"So…would you mind if I sat…" He awkwardly asked, motioning towards the seat across from her.

"Oh, no." She said as she moved her trey back a bit, giving him room to sit down. Andrew put his tray of food down on the table and sat down across from Carrie.

The two of them sat down in awkward silence for a bit. Neither of them really knew what to say.

"Lunch looks okay." Andrew said, saying the only thing he could think of for conversation. Today's special was popcorn chicken and a dinner roll with hash brown sticks. This wasn't nearly as bad as some of the other stuff they had been given in the past. In fact, it was actually quiet decent.

"I guess…" She said sheepishly as she started to pick at her food. It almost felt like they were back in kindergarten and they were trying to strike up a conversation with that one kid that they were forced to play with.

"Hey!" A random girl said as she came up to their table holding a bunch of flyers in her arms. "Vote for Steve Cooper for senior class president!" She said, holding up a huge poster with the words "VOTE STEVE COOPER" with a picture of who Andrew assumed was Steve Cooper.

"Okay, sure." Andrew said.

"Here, take a flyer!" She said, putting one of her posters on the table.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got it, I got it." Andrew was progressively getting more and more annoyed with this girl.

"Okay, just be sure to vote for Steve-"

"You can go now." Carrie said, which surprised the girl, as Carrie had shown she wasn't the biggest talker.

"Uh, okay…vote for Steve." She said with a small smile and then she walked away. Andrew turned to look at Carrie.

"Nice." He said as he chuckled a bit. She slightly smiled as she continued to pick at her food. "She was annoying."

"Yeah." Carrie said.

After breaking the bubble of awkwardness between the two of them, Andrew and Carrie sat and ate their lunches together. They didn't talk much except for a few quick things every now and again, but they thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It wasn't about what was said or what they were eating, there was just something about being in each other's presence that made it pleasant.

Soon, the bell rang.

"Ugh." Andrew groaned, disappointed that lunch period was over. He grabbed his backpack and Carrie got her stuff. "Thanks. That was fun."

"Yeah, n-no problem." She replied as she gathered all of her books into her backpack and put it on her shoulder. "Bye Andrew." She said, giving him a little smile.

"Bye Carrie." He said, smiling back as she walked away.

* * *

><p>Carrie started her way to her next class and took a deep breath. Andrew seemed like a pretty good guy, and he was pretty attractive. Plus, they had a lot in common, from their sleep deprived physical appearance to their social outcast personalities. However, there was something else about this strange young man that she liked. She wasn't sure what it was, but she definitely felt something towards him. As she thought about Andrew, Carrie felt good inside. This was the start of something great and she knew it.<p>

* * *

><p>Andrew watched Carrie walk away. Carrie was definitely cute and very pretty, but there was something about her that made him feel drawn to her. Maybe it was her frizzy strawberry blonde hair. Maybe it was the fact that she seemed a lot like him. Maybe it was the fact that she obviously wasn't a flawless girl like all of the popular girls seemed to be and she wasn't trying to be one. Whatever it was, Andrew knew that he could definitely feel a connection between him and her. He grabbed his backpack, and smiled. Something was starting and he couldn't wait to see where it went.<p> 


	9. Puddle

_Before you start throwing stuff at me for not updating sooner, allow me to explain._

_These past two weeks were SUPER hectic. I've got A LOT of stuff going on in my personal life right now between school, health, and family. With all that, it's kind of difficult to fine time for writing. I apologize that this chapter took a bit longer than usual to write. The next chapter will be up real soon._

_Thank you for reading and if you would like to follow/favorite/review, please do! Enjoy! :)_

* * *

><p>Carrie walked out of the school building. School had ended and it was time for something she had been anticipating all day: time to walk home. She took a deep breath and looked up at the sky. It was a cloudy day, but it wasn't raining and that was good enough for her.<p>

Carrie started to walk down the yard and to the sidewalk. As she walked, she noticed that there was a big puddle in her way. It looked like it was where all the water from the storm went. She stopped for a moment to look at it. It looked reasonably deep, and the water was clear and almost looked clean enough to drink. After looking at it for a moment, she noticed that she could see her reflection in the puddle. Seeing her reflection so clearly in a puddle of water was one of the coolest things she had ever seen.

"Watch out!" Carrie heard from behind her as someone pushed her, causing her to fall into the puddle. Carrie turned to see that it was Chris who pushed her.

"HA! She fell right into it!" Chris laughed. Carrie sighed at Chris's immaturity and then stood up, getting herself out of the puddle, which was now cloudy from the mud.

"Sloppy seconds!" she heard as someone else pushed her into the puddle for a second time. This time it was Billy Nolan who pushed her.

Billy Nolan was the bad boy of the school. He had some facial hair, blue eyes, short brown hair, a few faded scars on his face, and a reputation for having some trouble with the law. As for his home life, Billy's mom had died in a car crash years before. His dad worked 24/7 and couldn't care less what Billy did. Judging by his past actions, Billy clearly didn't have morals or any conscience. Then on top of all that, he was Chris Hargensen's boyfriend. Therefore, he wasn't too fond of Carrie either.

"That was even better than the first time!" Chris said. Carrie didn't even bother to get out of the puddle this time. She looked down at herself, all wet and covered in mud. Carrie closed her eyes and took a breath, trying her best not to cry. However, despite her best attempts, she couldn't hold back from a few tears. All she wanted right then was for someone to pinch her and wake her up from the bad dream she was living.

* * *

><p>"And I think that's all I need..." Andrew said to himself, pulling a book out of his locker. School was finally over, and Andrew couldn't be happier, since that day had been more boring than usual.<p>

Andrew walked out the school doors and saw Matt sitting in his car, waiting for him. As he walked down the outdoor stairs, he noticed that Wayne was standing on the steps, leaning against the railing with one of his friends.

"Oh great…" Andrew said. He then walked past Wayne as quietly as he could.

"Hey, Detmer!" Wayne said, right as Andrew thought that he was in the clear. Andrew sighed and turned around to face him.

"Hey, I gotta get home…" Andrew said, coming up with a quick excuse.

"I'll tell you what. I'm gonna let you off easy this time." Wayne said with an odd smile.

"Oh…alright…thanks…" Andrew replied turning around. As he continued his way to Matt's car, he felt something hit him in the back of the head. After taking a second to wait for the pain from the impact to go away, he turned around to see that Wayne had thrown a tennis ball at him.

"I said I'd let you off easy." Wayne said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, okay…douche." Andrew said to himself, walking it off.

He looked around the schoolyard, trying to find Carrie. It would be cool if she wanted to ride home with them again.

"Watch out!" Andrew heard from the other side of the yard, which prompted him to turn, and he saw Carrie being pushed into a puddle. Seeing this, Andrew started to make his way to her, as she probably would appreciate some help. However, his thought process soon came to a halt when he saw a guy come up behind Carrie and push her back into the puddle.

"Sloppy seconds!" He yelled.

"What is wrong with these people?" Andrew said to himself, bringing his pace up, starting to jog.

As Andrew started to jog over to her, he saw what looked like Carrie beginning to cry.

"Oh man." He said, bringing up his pace to a full running speed in an attempt to get to her as soon as he could.

* * *

><p>Andrew made it over to Carrie, who was softly crying, just as he suspected.<p>

"Hey, you okay?" Andrew said. Carrie recognized his voice and looked up at him.

"Oh…" she said, wiping away the tears. "Yeah, I-I'm okay."

"Here," Andrew said, reaching his hand out to help her up. She then grabbed his hand, and stood back up with his help.

"Thank you." She said.

"You're welcome." Andrew replied. The two of them awkwardly stood there for a moment, waiting for the other one to say something.

"Do you want a ride home?" Andrew finally said.

"Yeah, okay." She said.

"Then let's go." He said, leading her to the parking lot.

While they walked, an idea suddenly came to Andrew, the best idea he had all day.

"Hey," Andrew said as he stopped walking for a moment, and he took off his jacket. "You mind?" He said, holding up his jacket. She wasn't entirely sure what he was doing, but she shook her head. Andrew proceeded to put his jacket over Carrie's shoulders, giving her something dry to wear.

"There." He said. For a moment, she thought it was a prank and he was going to take it back.

"Seriously?" She asked in an attempt to make sure he was being serious.

"Seriously." He replied "Wear it for the ride back." Carrie felt Andrew's jacket. It was soft and dry. Realizing that he was being serious, she started to smile and looked Andrew in the eye.

"Thank you." Carrie said.

"No problem." He said, smiling back.

Finally, after a moment of walking, Andrew and Carrie made it to Matt's car. The first thing Andrew did was open the backseat door for Carrie.

"Yo." Matt said. "Oh, do we have an extra passenger again?"

"Yeah, Carrie's with us again." Andrew replied.

"Awesome." Matt said.

"Hey," Andrew said to Carrie, "would you mind if I, uh, sat...with you?" Carrie remembered what her mother said about being in close proximity with boys and how it was a sin because it encouraged lustful thoughts. However, she couldn't care less what her mom thought at the moment.

"No. No I don't." She said.

"Alright." Andrew said, going to the other side of the car and getting in the other seat. After sitting down, he looked at Carrie. Carrie looked back at him, and they both shared a genuine, non-awkward smile.

"So this means I'm like a limo driver." Matt said.

"If that's what you want to pretend, okay." Andrew said.

"Or maybe I'm a police officer, taking you rascals to the station."

"Just drive."

"You got it." Matt said with a chuckle as he pulled out of the school parking lot, beginning the journey over to Carrie's house.


	10. Comments from Afar

_Okay, you can go on and throw stuff at me. I deserve it._

_Allow me to explain myself yet again. I've been rather busy lately and the last few weeks have been kind of rough, but about a week ago, I had this chapter almost fully written, on an unsaved document. Then my computer crashed and I lost the file…it's a shame I had to learn that lesson the hard way._

_Also, I'm going to warn you right now, March may be a slow month for chapters. I have to prepare for an event in the first week of April that I've been anticipating and preparing for since December, and that's my main priority right now. From now to the second week of April, I will try to write as much as possible, but don't expect more than one chapter a week. I apologize for any delays that may occur._

_Thank you for reading, and if you would like to favorite/follow/review, then please do! Enjoy! :)_

* * *

><p>"That was even better than the first time!" Chris said to Billy, who just pushed Carrie into a puddle for a second time.<p>

"You know what the best part is?" Billy asked running up to Chris, "She's too poor to afford any means of transportation, so that means that she needs to walk all the way home in those wet clothes."

"Oh my gosh, look!" Chris said, pointing at Carrie who was covering her eyes, presumably crying.

"Win!" Billy said, as they both laughed.

"We're going to hell for this."

"But at least we'll go down with style."

"Oh, definitely!" Chris said as they laughed and began to walk to Billy's car.

As they walked, Chris heard a set of footsteps. She turned around to see Andrew Detmer running up to Carrie, coming to her assistance.

"Hey, look." Chris said, making Billy turn around to look.

"Woah, who is that guy?" He asked as they watched him help her up.

"That's Andrew Detmer." Chris said, surprising Billy with her knowledge of that.

"Wait, how do you know him?"

"I, uh…I had a thing with his cousin about a year and a half ago, in the summer before last."

"What do you mean, you "had a thing with" him?" Billy asked her with a tone of curiosity in his voice.

"I mean that you shouldn't be so paranoid and you should just accept the fact that I've been in other relationships before." Billy chuckled at this.

"Oh look! It looks like things are getting deep." He said, motioning over to Andrew, who was putting his jacket on Carrie's back, to which she responded with a smile.

"Aw, it looks like Carrie has her first crush!" Chris said with a fake tone of cuteness in her voice

"It would make sense that she would fall for him since it does looks like they've got some stuff in common."

"Yeah, they both look like they do drugs and never sleep because they were raped as a child." Chris said, making Billy turn to look at her with a slight laugh.

"Well, that's a little dark and morbid."

"Is there anything wrong with that?"

"Not at all! I like dark and morbid." Billy said, as they laughed and continued their way to Billy's car.

* * *

><p>"I said I'd let you off easy." Wayne said with a laugh as Andrew walked away. "So anyways," Wayne said to his friend, Trent, who was leaning against the railing with him, "I mean, I see what you're saying, but you're still wrong.<p>

"Seriously?" Trent said, "He was a better teacher two years ago."

"Uh, no he wasn't."

"Of course he was, he let us-"

"Woah, woah, woah, look over there." Wayne interrupted, pointing to Andrew, who was talking to an upset Carrie, who was sitting in a puddle.

"What's he doing…?" Trent asked.

"Your guess is just as good as mine." The two of them watched as Andrew helped Carrie out of the puddle, and as he did, Trent and Wayne saw that it was Carrie White who Andrew was helping.

"Dude, that's Carrie White!" Trent said.

"Wow, it looks like he's trying for a shot at the one person who's more of a loser than he is."

"You think he has any kind of chance with her?"

"Nah." Wayne answered back immediately, "Even people like Carrie White have standards." Trent nodded.

"Yeah, that's true. Oh, look." Trent said, referring to Andrew, who had taken off his jacket and was putting it on Carrie. "He really DOES like her." Wayne smiled a fake smile and sighed an exaggerated sigh.

"My little Andrew's growing up." He said, chuckling a bit at his own joke.

"Aw, he grew up sooo fast!" Trent said with a laugh. Wayne turned to him with an unamused look.

"You just ripped off a joke that I JUST told."

"Whatever, man." Trent said, brushing it off. "Let's get outta here."

"Sure. Your place or mine?" Wayne asked.

"Let's go to mine."

"Sounds good." Wayne said, as they started the walk down to Trent's house.


	11. Disappointing Outcomes

_Guess what?! I'M BACK!_

_I apologize for the hiatus. In the past few months, I've been rather busy, so it's a bit difficult to get back into the habit of writing. However, right now I am on vacation without a worry in the world, so I thought I might as well try to write again. If this new chapter is well received, then I will definitely continue writing. However, if it seems forced/bad and everyone hates it, then I'll just hang up my cape and accept that this story has run its course and just needs to be left alone.  
><em>

_Oh by the way (__**and this is IMPORTANT**__): the Chronicle movie starts here. From here on in, if there is any part of Chronicle that I didn't write into the story, just assume that it happened and just fill in the blanks on your own. (I going to include the first scene where his dad was banging on the door, but I figured it would be cutting it too close with the copyright. So yeah, that part happened in the same day as this chapter)  
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_Anyways, here's the new chapter. If you would like to follow/favorite/review, please do! Enjoy! :)_

_(Also, one last thing: haters, you make my day. Just sayin'. :P)_

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><p>Andrew walked into the cafeteria with his camera. Coming in, he noticed Carrie sitting at her usual table with her school books. Since she was starting to become a bigger part in his life, he figured she was important to the documentation of his life too, so he went to hit the record button. However, after taking a step in her direction, a thought came into his mind that maybe she didn't want to be filmed. After all, she had enough trouble talking to him without being videotaped. So Andrew put down his camera, and then started to make his way towards her.<p>

"Hey." Andrew said, standing in front of her at her table.

"Oh, hey." Carrie replied, and moved her stuff out of his way so that he could sit down, trying to act like she wasn't expecting him. However, she slowly stopped what she was doing, distracted by the camera that Andrew was holding. "Are you, um…are you videotaping me?"

"Uh, no, don't worry, don't-it's off."

"Oh, okay." She said with a slight look of relief on her face.

"I wanted to, you know, document my life from now on, so I got this." He said, holding up the camera. Carrie slightly nodded, seeing where this was going. "And, uh, I wanted to ask you first but…you're in my life, so-"

"I-I don't want to be videotaped." She interrupted. Carrie's mother never let anyone else film her before, and Carrie knew exactly what kind of trouble she would be in if her mother found out someone filmed her, especially since it was a boy.

"Okay, that's okay." He quickly replied. "I won't tape you."

"Thank you."

"But I, uh, I really wanna record some stuff, so I'm…I'm gonna go somewhere else." Andrew knew he needed to film, but he couldn't help but feel bad for leaving Carrie alone.

"Oh, that's fine." Carrie said, trying to hide the disappointment she was feeling.

"It's just for today." Andrew said in an attempt to reassure her.

"Okay."

"So then…I'll see ya." Andrew said as he started to walk away.

"Bye." Carrie said, getting back to her work. And as she did, she couldn't help but feel let down. Eating lunch with Andrew had lately become the highlight of her day.

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><p>Andrew went outside to the football field where the cheerleaders practiced, finding that it was a great place where he could film himself without any distraction. He walked over to the top of the bleachers, placed his camera a step above him, and hit record. As he opened his can of Cheddar Cheese Pringles, he thought about what he was doing with the camera and how he would be able to look back on it later on in life. It was a shame Carrie didn't want to be filmed. Someday it would probably be fun to look back at her when she was in high school.<p>

"Four, five, six, seven, eight!" Andrew heard the cheerleaders chant from the football field, as he stared off into the distance.

Suddenly, a flash of panic went through Andrew's body as one of the cheerleaders, who looked like the captain, put down her pompoms and started walking in his direction. He quickly pulled the camera out from behind him and tried to make it look like he was examining the camera instead of using it to record.

"Hi…" The cheerleader called out to him from the football field.

"Hey…" Andrew replied.

"Could you NOT videotape us, please? It's really creepy."

"Oh, no, I wasn't filming you." he said, quickly shutting his camera off. "I was just…holding onto it."

"Uh huh…" She said with an eye roll. "Just, can you please leave?"

"Okay." He said.

"Thank you." She said in a snarky tone as she turned around and walked back to where she was practicing with the others. Andrew looked at the Pringles chip he was holding and thought for a second.

"Back to the lunchroom I guess…" He said to himself as he grabbed his lunch and put his camera in his bag. While he was unhappy that he had to stop filming, he couldn't hide the feeling of happiness he had about seeing Carrie for the remaining break time.

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><p>Andrew sheepishly made his way back into the cafeteria. Carrie was still at her table, and he slowly went over once again.<p>

"Um…hi…" He said to her, feeling slightly awkward.

"Oh, you're back." Carrie said.

"Yeah…I uh, got kicked out…" Andrew said with a small smile, trying to cover up a bit of embarrassment. Carrie smiled a little at this.

"Do you want to…sit down?" She asked, moving her books once again.

"Sure." He said with a smile, sitting down across from her.

As Carrie sat across from Andrew, reading her book, occasionally looking up at him eating his lunch and awkwardly making eye contact for a moment. There was just something about being in Andrew's presence that she really enjoyed. Her mother had repeatedly warned her about getting too close to boys, but she just couldn't help feeling the way she felt about Andrew. And Andrew was having a good time himself. He hadn't felt this strongly about someone out of the family in a long time, and he was loving every moment of it.

However, their time together was soon interrupted by the bell. Andrew put what was left of his lunch into his lunch bag, then tossed it into a nearby garbage can.

"Do you want a ride home?" He asked Carrie, since driving her home was kind of becoming a regular thing.

"Uh, yeah. That would be nice." She said, putting her math book into her bag. Andrew wanted to get out into the hallway to film where his lockers were, but he felt compelled to say goodbye to her first.

"So..." Andrew started.

"So." Carrie replied.

"I'll see you after school then."

"Alright." She said, "I will see you then."

"So will I." Andrew said with a smile, which Carrie returned. As she was walking away, Andrew felt that he needed to say something to her. Something, or just anything.

"Carrie?" He said, and she turned her head. "I want to tell you something."

"Okay." She said, preparing for what he had to say.

"I..." He said as Carrie stood there, waiting for what it was he had to say, "You..." She nodded a little to motivate him to get to the point, a little anxious about class starting soon. Andrew looked down and sighed, accepting defeat.

"I think you left this pencil by the table." He said, holding up a pencil he found on the floor.

"Oh, not mine." She replied, "I have all mine."

"Oh, uh, my bad then." Andrew said, dropping the pencil back on the floor. "That was all."

"Okay. See you later." Carrie said, putting her backpack on and starting to walk away.

"Bye." Andrew said.

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><p>Andrew walked away shaking his head, immensely disappointed at his lack of courage.<p>

"Great job, man." He said to himself, "Real nice."

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><p>As Carrie walked away from Andrew to get to her locker, she tried to hide the fact that she was disappointed.<p>

"Please," she said under her breath, "say something...just say anything."


	12. 57 Minutes

_*peaks head out from under rock and shields eyes from the burning sunlight* I'm…I'm alive?! No way…well, might as well write another chapter!_

_I am so sorry for abandoning my story. This past school year was *VERY* difficult, since I was dealing with depression and anxiety. S__chool has ended, so I figured I might as well write another chapter, so here we go. Thank you to any loyal fans who are still reading, and thank you to any new fans who have just started reading._

_By the way, does anyone actually read these notes? Not that there isn't anything wrong with not reading them, since I'm not so sure based on some of the recent reviews._

_Anyways, if you'd like to favorite/follow/review, please do! Leave a review telling me what you think of the story, what you think of my writing, heck write a review telling me what you had for lunch today! Enjoy :)_

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><p>"Bye." Carrie said, stepping out of Matt's car and onto the sidewalk.<p>

"See you Monday." Andrew said right before she shut the door.

"This could be a fun little tradition, giving Carrie a ride after school." Matt said as Carrie started up the walkway to her house.

"Possibly." Andrew said with a slight nod and shrug.

"Could I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Do you like her?" Matt half seriously asked with a half-smile.

"Oh, uh, no-hell no…" Andrew responded, with a flustered look.

"Oh really?" Matt said with an obvious tone of doubt.

"Yeah-definitely not."

"Mhmmm, I'm sure." Matt said sarcastically. "Hey, I had a question." He said, turning to Andrew and changing the subject, "There's gonna be a party at the abandoned warehouse down near Ashwood tonight. You know where that place is, right?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so. I've never been there, but I think I've heard of it."

"Do you by any chance wanna tag along to said party with me?"

"You serious?" Andrew asked, "YOU are asking ME to go to a party with you?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"I…no, there's gotta be some sort of a catch…" Andrew said skeptically.

"Nah, no catch this time! You could meet new people and make friends. It'd be good for you!"

"I could do other things too."

"Please? Can you please just do this for me? Do it for your cousin?" Matt said as Andrew sighed.

"But…uh…I…"Andrew stuttered.

"You what?" Matt asked. Andrew sighed in defeat as he put his hand down from his head.

"Screw it, I'll go."

"Yeeeessssssss!" Matt happily exclaimed.

"But what am I gonna tell my dad?"

"Tell him that you need to go to church or something, I don't know, make something up."

"Okay, sure." Lying to his dad was a skill that Andrew had come to master, so this wouldn't be such a difficult task. "You'll pick me up for this, right?"

"Yeah, how about I'll swing back around here at seven?"

"Sounds good. Just pick me up on the sidewalk across the street so my dad doesn't see me."

"I can do that. And can you bring the camera?" Matt asked.

"I knew there was a catch." Andrew said, smiling and shaking his head as he got out of the car.

"Hey," Matt said before Andrew shut the door, "tonight could change your life. You never know what could happen." Matt said with a goofy smile.

"Yeah yeah, whatever, man. See you later." Andrew said as he shut the car door. "…dumbass." He quietly added as Matt drove away.

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><p>Andrew sat at his computer, and looked at the clock in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. 5:37.<p>

"I've got some time." He said to himself.

Since he had some extra time to kill, he began reviewing the footage he had taken that day some more. Looking through it, he was relatively happy with what he had and he knew he was off to a great start with documenting his life.

However, scrolling through the clips he took, he couldn't help but feel a bit sad that he didn't have any direct footage of Carrie that he could look at. Aside from a blurry shot of her in the corner of the screen in one frame, she was completely omitted from his day.

"Oh man." He said to himself, disappointed. With that, Andrew looked up from what he was doing and realized how he felt. As he did so, he began to ponder Matt's question from earlier. _Do I like her?_ He asked himself.

His thoughts were soon interrupted as he heard his dad calling his name from the other room.

"Andrew!"

"Yeah?" He called back.

"Come here for a second!" Andrew got up from his computer and walked into the living room where his dad sat on the lazy chair, holding a beer bottle with the TV on some History Channel documentary.

"What's up?" Andrew asked.

"You need to walk to the pharmacy get your mom's medicine. They called and said you needed to pick it up before they close."

"Okay, yeah, I can do that."

"Now get outta here." His dad said. Andrew was about to get his shoes on, when he stopped and turned to his dad.

"Hey, just so you know, Matt wants me to come over to his place tonight."

"Why?" His dad asked.

"He's got some, uh…some maps…for a history project that I need to do. And he wanted to help me out with it." Andrew knew it was a cheap excuse, but it was all he could come up with on the spot.

"Whatever." His dad said.

"Okay." Andrew said as he opened the door to start his walk to the pharmacy, relieved that his dad bought his excuse.

"Andrew, wait a second," his dad called.

"Yeah, dad?" Andrew replied, nervous that his dad maybe called his bluff.

"If you don't get that medicine here before I eat my dinner, I'm gonna take that little toy camera of yours and smash it." His dad said, maintaining eye-contact with Andrew throughout the whole statement. Andrew nodded.

"Got it." He was doing his best not to say anything else, since he was already in the clear and saw no need to jeopardize that.

"Good." His dad said, as he went back to watching what was on the TV. With that, Andrew walked out the door, and shut it behind him.

While walking down to the pharmacy, Andrew checked his watch. 6:03. If he stepped up his pace a bit, he'd be able to get his mom's medicine home with just enough time to go to the party.

"Fifty seven more minutes before I'm forced to be around people…better savor it." He said, trying not to think about the extreme amounts of discomfort he was sure he'd feel trying to socialize that night. "This is going to suck…"

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><p><em> (Fun fact: I had originally drafted this chapter and the previous chapter to be one big chapter, but I eventually split them into two separate ones to allow more breathing room.)<em>


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